Missouri man sentenced to 16+ years in prison for tricking boy on Snapchat into sending child pornography

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Wednesday sentenced a Missouri man to 16 years and eight months in prison for using Snapchat to trick a boy into sending him child pornography.

In 2019, Martin Dwayne Isaia Mitchell, of Macon County, set up a fake Snapchat account in which he pretended to be female and then reached out to a 15-year-old boy that he knew. Mitchell, who was 20 at the time, convinced the boy to record a video of him masturbating and send it to Mitchell. Using a different fake female profile, Mitchell contacted the boy again in 2020, and sent him explicit videos to entice the boy to send pictures in return. Once Mitchell received the teen’s explicit pictures, he threatened to send them to others unless the teen paid $500.

Mitchell created a third fake profile and contacted an adult male that he knew in an attempt to obtain more explicit photos, but the male figured out who he was and told Mitchell he was going to report him to police. Mitchell then said he’d pay $1,000 to the man to not report him.

Mitchell pleaded guilty March 25 to one felony count of production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. Mitchell will also be on supervised release for life after his release from prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Macon County Sheriff's Office, the Macon Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Bateman is prosecuting the case.